


Better Player Than You

by AlAngel



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Manipulation, canon-divergence (duh it’s a fix-it for season 7), season 7 spoiler-y
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 07:11:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13289727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlAngel/pseuds/AlAngel
Summary: Summary: You warned Petyr Baelish that his ‘daughter’ might become more than he could handle. Of course he hadn’t listened to a strangers words. However when faced with the accusation of murder and treason he finds himself surprised when the same stranger speaks up – And thereby enters the dangerous game of thrones herself.A/n: I’ve been working on this forever, but stopped like ¾ ways through. Finally finished it. So here it is: My personal fix-it for that unacceptable end of the last season! This is for all my fellow, Baelish-girls xD





	Better Player Than You

Title: Better player than you  
Characters: Petyr Baelish x female!Reader (kinda?), Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Lysa mentioned, Cercei mentioned, Bran mentioned?, Ned mentioned  
Word Count: 2.8k  
Warnings: manipulation, canon-divergence (duh it’s a fix-it for season 7), season 7 spoiler-y  
Summary: You warned Petyr Baelish that his ‘daughter’ might become more than he could handle. Of course he hadn’t listened to a strangers words. However when faced with the accusation of murder and treason he finds himself surprised when the same stranger speaks up – And thereby enters the dangerous game of thrones herself.   
A/n: I’ve been working on this forever, but stopped like ¾ ways through. Finally finished it. So here it is: My personal fix-it for that unacceptable end of the last season! This is for all my fellow, Baelish-girls xD (Btw I only watched the scene like once - I’m still in season 4 lol – and I’m also more of a Song of Ice and Fire book girl. So sorry if I mixed up things there a little)  
…

"The girl does look nothing like you, does she?" You stood next to Lord Baelish as his so called daughter built a snow castle in the yard. Her auburn hair and her eyes reminded you much more of someone else, although even in her younger days lady Arryn would have never compared to Alayne’s beauty.  
Lord Baelish didn't look surprised at you words. His curious eyes left yours to look down at the child that soon would be a woman.  
"No" he said still studying her "She takes after her mother."  
Something about the tone in his voice bothered you but you wouldn't comment. Speaking to him at all had been a risk, but one you wanted to take. He's green-grey eyes had always sparkled with amusement and mockery, ever so playful. You wanted to play too. Never before had you met a man as smart and cunning as the former master of coin. And although every instinct told you to leave it, you couldn't help your curiosity. He was something else and you intended to see what it was about him exactly that made him so dangerous.  
"Though I do hope she may have my wits" Lord Baelish was looking at you once again. His face was always the same with the same cheerful smirk plastered across it as if he knew more than everyone else combined.  
"Do you really?" You looked down once more at the growing woman. Her beauty was dimmed by an aura of defiance and nativity. What could someone like her accomplish in this world if she could only grow out of that shell? "If I may be so bold as to give you advice, Lord Baelish, let her keep her blindness to the world and it's games. Or one day she might become a better player than you."

"You are accused of treason. You are accused of murder. What do you have to say for yourself… Lord Baelish?"  
The whole room had become quiet as everyone was looking his way. There was surprise and shock all over his handsome face and for a second you pitied him. You had told him all those years ago what could become of ' Alayne ' if he let her develop some sense. A woman like her could make armies fall and obviously also take on one of the smartest man in Westeros. You had always admired Petyr Baelish, but seeing him fail like this gave you a feeling of satisfaction. A man could only know so much about manipulation.  
Satisfied with how things had played out today in Winterfell you tried to calm your excited heartbeat. It was a moment like this that you had been waiting for ever since you met him in the Vale. And as the saying went good opportunities came to those who waited.  
"Looks like I've been right, huh?" You whispered so only he could hear. There was triumph in your voice that was mirrored on your face. You didn’t see Lord Baelish react to your words at all, but it wasn’t his attention you wanted. He was smarter than to falling for such easy bait as your mockery, but as you suspected others weren’t. It only took them only a second to pick your bait.  
"What are you whispering?" Arya, still in the middle of the court, send you murderous glares. Of course it would be the child who was too stubborn and self-assured to know when best to hold her tongue.   
"Nothing" you replied with faked surprised on your face "I know better than to speak up in this."  
"But I saw you whisper to the traitor" Arya insisted even taking a step towards you. Her eyes were hard. Too hard for a child of her age, you decided. One should gain some wisdom before deciding to build your character solely on strength.  
"Speak up please, Lady (y/n)" the Lady Sansa said as her eyes and the ones of the whole court focused on you. You tried hard to look uncomfortable while internal you knew this was the chance you had been waiting for. It was time to step out of the shadows and bring some things in motion. After all it would be the last player standing who'd win the game of thrones - But you had to be a player first to stand out.  
"My lady I was… just wondering" you said looking nervous between Lady Sansa and her sister "What the charges were? I've been with you in the Vale and Lord Baelish seemed innocent enough back then. So I asked him what you were speaking of."  
"So you're in conspiracy with him?" Arya asked  
"I've never spoken to him but once in the Vale" you answered truthfully "and still I wouldn't know what I could have conspired with him anyway. Since he came to the Vale to marry Lady Arryn he laid down his position as influential master of coin in Kingslanding as I hear. Being married to a widow who already has an heir instead of having a seat on the small council doesn't sound like much gain to me."  
"Young Lord Robin Arryn is a sickly child"  
"I've been to the Vale quite often, my lady. And it is true the young Lord wasn't in the best of health. But then again I wonder what's to expect of a child of his age that's still being breast fed and who just recently lost his Lord father and the only home known to him."  
"You are wondering quite a lot"  
"Aloud only as long as the Lady Stark will let me" You bowed your head, forcing yourself to keep the sly smile off your lips.  
"So you have doubts about the charges laid before Lord Baelish?" Lady Sansa ignored your obvious display of submission to her word. Unlike her sister she was pretending to patiently listen to your words even though both of you knew she would have your head too for choosing the wrong words at the wrong time.  
"I didn't say I doubted anything. All I did was wonder."  
"Well the charges are quite clear. Lord Baelish stands accused of murdering our aunt Lysa Arryn. And conspiring with the Lannisters which led to our fathers beheading." The room was silent again as Lady Sansa’s words hung in the air. Your face was shocked just as everyone else’s. Lord Eddard Stark had been very much loved in the North. So was his lady wife lady Caitlyn Stark whose sister Lysa had been.  
"You…?" You let your voice trail off as you faced Lord Baelish for the first time. His face had lost his usual arrogant touch, but he was still holding himself upright. It seemed as if he was a man of appearance right till the end. You swallowed before faking to regain your voice. "It was you - not the fool - who pushed my Lady Arryn through the door? You killed the woman you gave everything to be with?" With wide eyes you turned away from him as if disgusted and personally offended by his wrong doings. Unable to face him you had to phrase the obvious question on your lips towards the room and Lady Sansa. "Why?"  
And just as you suspected she felt the need to answer instead of him. "To become Lord Protector of the Vale"  
"For a title?" You echoed "You killed the woman you loved, who took you and the incognito Lady Sansa in, who trusted you with her weakened son? All for a meaningless title since you already had been given Harrenhal by Cercei Lannister?" You called her by her name instead of queen. Like all your words these were carefully chosen, because in the end all you did was play. It didn't matter to you if Petyr Baelish did any or all things he stood accused for, all that mattered was not losing a valuable player before you had a good look at his cards and took what you wanted. Lord Baelish had made the one mistake of starting to become an active player in the game of thrones too early. There were still too many others fighting minor disputes and clashing egos. A good player was invisible till they were ready to strike in a grand way. He just hadn't been patient enough or too blind to realise Lady Sansa had been a powerful and too dangerous card to pick up.  
You knew it was impossible to convince the Starks who had no love for him. But you also weren't foolish enough to try. Your act had never been for Lady Sansa and her siblings, it had been for everyone else watching. All you needed was someone else to doubt the accusations. All you needed was one voice from the north who spoke their mind as well. Because no Stark would kill someone for empty charges. They couldn't. Even in times of war house Stark stood for honour and rightfulness. It was why northerners loved them. Their honour was why no Bolton or Ironman Invasion could ever be what the Starks were for all northern man and woman. No Stark would sentence someone to death as long as there was doubt - especially after starting a trial in the name of honour and safety for the north.  
"So you believe it was the singer that had killed my aunt over lost love?" Lady Sansa had a sharp voice. She knew as well as anyone in the room that she had asked too much already to back down from your opinion. If there were doubts about a charge she had to hear them.  
"A mad singer sounds to me more likely than a man who loved her and already had her hand in marriage. Especially someone most lords of the Vale despised, before and even more so after the lady Arryn died."  
To your satisfaction you heard the barest of whispers. A man or two stirring, whispering, possibly now wondering too. They had thereby given you a better chance, granting you a good hand for your first dangerous play. Every mouth that could speak of the false murder of the Lord Protector of the Vale was a mouth in your favour.  
"I thank you for your…. Wonderings" Lady Sansa said, her green eyes fixed on you "However I can not share your conviction of his innocence. I myself saw him push her through the moon door."  
Now that caused stirring again and for the first time your eyes widened in honest surprise. You hadn't planned for this. Her word would always stand above any suspicion you could stir. She humoured you with listening, you realised as you remembered the advice you had given Lord Baelish not two years back. A woman who was smart and had the looks was powerful on its own, but with a powerful name such as Stark she could be unstoppable. Unless…  
"Why haven't you said anything before?" You took a step away from Lord Baelish, a small gesture that should show them how his deeds has shocked you and that you weren't in any form of alliance with him. You were playing a dangerous game and rationally should leave it, but you also wouldn't lose against a bunch of children. They might sit in the high chairs now but Lady Sansa, her brother and sister, all of them were all still children. Harder and more mature than they should be, but lacking in experience none the less.  
"It wasn't the right time" Lady Sansa said with a cold voice "And frankly I do not own you any sort of vindication. I am tired of your wonderings, Lady (y/n)."  
"Please forgive me" You said as you stepped back "I wasn't myself. Must have been the shock of hearing these news - After seeing you so close and well protected by the Lord Protector of the Vale just two short years ago."  
"What are you saying now?"  
"Just… How did you get out of Kings Landing and marriage with the imp if it wasn't for him? Alayne was a beautiful maid and the Lady Arryn a rather jealous woman, who but a claimed to be baseborn daughter would have been close to a man but still no treat?"  
"I was never safe with him” Lady Sansa spat, her green eyes flickering with suppressed anger. “Aunt Lysa almost pushed me out of the moon door! I'd be dead if it wasn't for…"  
"Me." This was the first time Petyr Baelish spoke up. He took a confident step forwards as you gracefully stepped aside. Every pair of eyes in the room was on him and some of the soldiers lining the walls even gasped. For once his eyes didn't sparkle with amusement, but with sorrow and hurt that you recognized as true - to some degree. He really had loved the child sitting on the throne trying to execute him.  
You had to shake your head internally. Only a man could blindly love a child that wasn't his just to ignore the dangerous adult they would become. However if the way he had kept silent, observed, for the last minutes were any indication he'd grown out of it. He might still care about her, but he had apparently decided he loved his own neck more. Lord Baelish might be a smart man and useful ally after all.  
With that confession hanging in the air you left the field to him and Sansa. You'd done your deed, feeding doubt and giving him the only chance a smooth talker really needed. You stood and watched silently as he and Sansa exchange more words. But nothing she could say now would make up for the fact that she owed him her life. 

Petyr Baelish got banished forever from Winterfell. He was to never set foot in the castle again or approach any Stark or their next of kin. His sentence was to leave immediately and never return.  
You met him outside as Lady Sansa was personally sending him on his way. Probably to be sure he was really gone. You had joined the small gathering as most people left in Winterfell had. A carriage was to take him back to the Vale, lined with at least five Stark soldiers. The whole scene reminded of a prisoner transport.  
And in a way it was true. Lord Baelish lost his best card today, the Lady Sansa. You had to see what more cards he had and was willing to play, before deciding if he was worth keeping around. The game for the throne was closing in and if you missed your chance you wouldn’t get anywhere in the remaining fighting. Afterall chaos was a ladder.  
With that thought in mind you stepped away into the dark courtyard away from the well lit flames of the torches. After what you did today no Stark would have any love for you ever again. But you had willingly taken that risk when speaking up. After everything that happened to them they had grown hard – And hard to manipulate. They were no easy way to rise.  
Baelish on the other hand had just taken a fall. He owed you his life and even if that didn’t mean anything to a man like him you were sure to have gotten his attention. His curiosity would be your way into his life. You’d play him just like you had played in his favour today. Finally, in the darkness of the nightly castle you allowed yourself the satisfied smirk you had been withholding all day. This was really it, you took your first step towards your goals.  
Still smiling you opened the door to Baelish’s carriage facing away from the crowd. Quietly and with all eyes on the traitor you slipped in. You took a seat waiting for him to join you after the Lady Sansa had finished threatening him some more so he wouldn’t dare come near her or her family again. You rolled your eyes at her excessive display of strength, a child’s way of asking to be taken serious.  
With your eyes in motion they fell to your hands, lazing lying in your lap. Particularly your index finger stood out as instead of your eyes your mind came into motion. Baelish might have lost his most valuable and interesting card, but he still held titles and connections in Kingslanding. Your smile brightened as your hands pulled down your dress a little exposing your breasts a little more. Titles and influence were valuables you didn’t account for so far. A marriage however could easily change that.  
“Lady (Y/n) Baelish. Wife of the Lord Protector of the Vale and Lady of Harrenhal.” You used your ring-free hand to smoothen your grown as your mind tried to title and decided you liked it very much.


End file.
